Posted on 12/18/2010 7:08:11 AM PST by marktwain
A Second Amendment advocacy leader has released video of his encounter with Sandy Springs, GA police during a traffic stop. Daniel Almond, founder of Restore the Constitution (which includes what the Brady Campaign’s Paul Helmke described as a polite armed Second Amendment rally among its achievements) was pulled over for speeding and a broken light over his rear license plate. That’s when he was ordered out of his car to submit to being frisked.
In Almond’s words:
This is me getting stopped by Sandy Springs PD for speeding. The second thing the officer asked me, after asking for my license, was if I had any firearms. I responded that I was choosing to exercise my right to remain silent on that question. That answer prompted the officer to have me get out of the car for a pat down. The officer told me that the reason for his question (about firearms) was because I had a “right to carry” sticker on my car. Yes, he actually said that. It’s a sticker for Georgia Carry.org (GCO) Although the audio isn’t 100% clear for that part, you can clearly hear him reference the sticker when talking to me and to another officer. Additionally, it appeared as if “back up” had been called, because there were 3 police right cars behind me and two more across the street. In the end, I got a ticket for speeding and for not having a working light bulb over my license plate.
The video is embedded in the sidebar to this column. Aside from the officer referencing the sticker as a cause for his notice and concern, you can hear background conversation among police monitoring the situation, beginning at around 5:50:
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
Oh, and I just saw the “no lighted plate” citation thrown in for good measure. Now I know it’s a humbug.
100% fishin’ expedition.
Frickin losers with a badge.
The cop was acting unreasonably.
I’ve been pulled over by almost every police in the metro Atlanta area. I always volunteer that I’m carrying. I never got hassled. Not once.
I highly recommend the website handgunlaw.us as a starting point for researching the laws in the various states.
You are right. Those 95% of piss poor cops really give the other 5% a bad name.
Paul Blart....wannabe
Ditto. That’s what I learned in my cc class.
You must work for a small muni in St Louis County
NEVER TRUST COPS - COP MENTALITY IS GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE. A few years ago, I had to drop off my car at my mechanic’s garage late at night and then walk home about a half mile away. After stopping me at gun point and having me on the very muddy and cold ground with my hands behind my head, they said that they were checking that I wasn’t abandoning a stolen vehicle. After 15 minutes and when they were satisfied that I was OK, I had to walk the rest of the way home in thoroughly soaked and muddy clothing.
No, he wasn't. Advocating for concealed carry is not against the law. Refusing to answer a question is also not against the law. Searching without a warrant is against the law and don't give me that BS about probable cause. The constitution says you can get a warrant to search with probable cause and says nothing about being able to search without a warrant with probable cause.
The judge, whoever he was, who made the original probable cause ruling needed to have his a**ed jailed, for the ruling is entirely unconstitutional.
Well its not too bad here but I wouldn’t say one of the most pro 2nd ammendment states. In GA you cannot open carry unless you have a CCL. Half the cops don’t even know the rules. My fiancee’ had a Gwinnett County cop tell him a few months ago that he could open carry but later he found out that is not true. I used to live and work in Sandy Springs. Its a real Yuppie area so the cops there are probably not into the pro gun stuff. Overall I think the cops would be happy if none of us had a gun.
Hopefully with the GA legislature having almost a GOP supermajority we will see some additional improvements in the gun laws here.
Jeez VC, maybe ya outta slow done a little bit?
:)
I think your estimate is unreasonably high. 10%? Much too high, IMHO.
There is no justification whatever to ask ANYTHING about guns. There is no answer that a person can supply that would justify lack of a search if the officer is justified in searching.
As for the other, volunteering is one thing, being grilled on the subject is quite another. I have met police officers that I would be quite comfortable letting know that I am armed. They are a rapidly declining minority.
It is in Michigan but not in Indiana.
That depends on which jurisdiction you are talking about. Nazi Germany, USSR, Obama's New World Order, oh, yeah! The USA? Not on my watch.
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